The Kon-Tiki Adventure

Each year, hundreds of Scouts and Girl Guides converge on Sandvlei to take part in the annual Kon-Tiki Adventure.  The competition is organised by the Cape Western Area Sea Scouts, under the auspices of the South African Scout Association.    Accompanying the teams are hundreds of members who come along to enjoy the great atmosphere of the event and to also assist the teams in the raft building. 

The Kon-Tiki Adventure started at Sandvlei in 1978.   The very first competition was organised by Darryl McEwan and he was succeeded by Robert Bell who ran the competition up until 1992.

Originally it was purely a raft competition for six Scouts or Guides and they had to live on the raft for 24 hours.

The competition has now grown, with the addition of the Kon-Tiki Fringe, which was introduced in 1993.   The idea behind the fringe was to keep the land crews on site, so that they are there to assist the team mates when the raft returns to shore on the Sunday.    The Fringe has now become a major competition on it's own, with teams competing for the Andrew "Dolphin" Lawson Trophy.

Campsites for the weekend are in demand and the logistics of organising the camp and construction sites is enormous.    The total staff contingent for Kon-Tiki exceeds 50 persons and the event attracts well over 2,000 visitors each year.

Kon-Tiki is a spectacle.   Visitors who see the rafts on the water during the night hours, with their lights on, or early in the morning, will never forget the beautiful sight of all the rafts on the water.    On special occasions there might even be a lightning storm over Table Mountain, creating a beautiful backdrop to an already spectacular sight.

The Kon-Tiki kitchen and tuck shop staff are kept busy throughout the weekend feeding hundreds of hungry Scouts, family members and visitors.

The Information Centre keeps visitors informed about ongoing activities and is the hub of everything happening.   The Information Centre houses the HQ, where judges come and go and scores are compiled as they arrive.

Scouts and Guides who have been involved in their Troop/Company organisation for the event, take with them a huge amount of knowledge, not only of what they've learnt in terms of the competition, but also the skills they have learnt in managing people and project managing their entry into what is regarded as one of the most exciting Scout competitions in South Africa.

Souvenir seekers can buy badges and T-shirts at the event and each year more and more of these are being sent to interested groups overseas.